1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to action chairs having a movable footrest associated with the chair seat. More specifically, this invention relates to two or three position recliner chairs of the type which comprise a seat, backrest and footrest which are movable between upright or closed position, TV position in which the seat and backrest are partially reclined and the footrest extended, and fully reclined position in which the seat and backrest are fully reclined and the footrest extended.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many action chairs have an extendible footrest which is movable from a retracted position located closely adjacent the front of the seat of the chair in a generally vertical orientation to an extended position spaced forward of the seat of the chair and in a generally horizontal attitude. Such traditional action or recliner chairs customarily have a cushion located on the chair seat, and a separate cushion attached to the footrest, with each cushion being covered separately with an overlying layer of upholstery. Therefore, when the recliner chair is used in the reclined position with the footrest extended, the user's legs in the location between the chair seat and footrest are generally unsupported. Furthermore, in the typical action or recliner chair of traditional configuration, there is an open gap between the chair seat and footrest when the footrest is in the extended position. This gap can be aesthetically displeasing, primarily because the footrest actuating linkage mechanism is exposed in this gap.
In order to eliminate the gap between the seat and the extended footrest, it has been suggested that the seat upholstery extend continuously from the seat and over a legrest connected directly to the seat so as to eliminate any unsightliness therebetween. Such a teaching may be found for example in U.S. Pat. No. 27,645 patented Mar. 27, 1860. According to the disclosure of this patent, a legrest is pivoted relative to the seat and is movable between upright and declined positions. In order to take up slack in the upholstery which occurs as the legrest is raised this patent passes the upholstery over a slide mounted roller on the underside of the legrest before attaching it to the underside of the legrest. By moving the slide mounted roller in synchronization with pivotal movement of the legrest, the upholstery is maintained taut.
Another approach to eliminating the unslightly gap between the footrest and seat of a recliner when the footrest is extended is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,444. According to the disclosure of this patent, a continuous length of cushioned upholstery extends from the back of the seat and over the footrest. When the footrest of this patent is retracted, the continuous layer of upholstery is convexedly formed about the front of the chair and folded back underneath the chair as the footrest is moved into its fully retracted position beneath the chair. In other words, the recliner chair in this patent moves the footrest from an extended position generally horizontally oriented forward of the seat through approximately 180 degrees to a position generally horizontally oriented underneath the chair seat in moving from extended to retracted position and thereby maintains the upholstery taut. While this recliner chair design provides continuous support from chair seat to chair footrest, the 180 degree motion of the footrest requires a complex and relatively expensive linkage mechanism.
It has therefore been an objective of the present invention to provide a recliner chair having a continuous upholstered cushion extending between the chair seat and the footrest, sometimes referred to as a recliner lounger, in which the cushioned upholstery may be maintained in a taut state in all positions of the footrest with a very simple and minimally expensive mechanism to maintain the tautness.
Still another objective of this invention has been to provide a recliner lounger mechanism in which conventional recliner linkage mechanisms may be utilized with a minimum addition to enable those mechanisms to be utilized to manufacture recliner loungers.